Combat
The Combat System as used on Requiem for Kingsmouth Combat Order 1: Initiative *Surprise 2: Declaration and Action 3: Damage Initiative Initiative is the result of one die roll, plus the total of your dexterity and composure attributes. On RfK the math has already been done for you (down in your crunchy bits), including any merits you have that change things, so all you need to do is add the number that comes up on your +roll 1 (not the number of successes, the actual number) to your initiative modifier, as well as any modifiers for your weapon or being in frenzy. Ties do not happen with initiative. Your initiative modifier is the basic tie breaker, with single die roll-offs determining who goes first if that is a tie. While grappling, both combatants move to the initiative of the higher combatant. 'Delay' You may delay actions, such as by waiting for someone to show their face, or by sprinting across the street during a lull in the shooting. If you delay and take your action later, your initiative moves to the period best reflecting this moment. Surprise To determine whether someone is surprised, combatants contest rolls of Wits + Composure + Obfuscate vs Dexterity + Stealth + Auspex. Anyone who beats the ambushing characters with their Wits + Composure may act. Those that don't do not act in the first round, and are denied their defense against ambushing opponents. Declaration and Action On your turn, you declare what you are going to do, and then make appropriate rolls. During the action phase, the characters take their actions as described in the B&S or God Machine rulebooks, as usual. Apply modifiers to combat and situations as required by storyteller or by changes to the environment. 'Celerity' Celerity allows a character to interrupt, acting after the declaration and before the roll. You must carry through with the declared action if possible; if it's not possible, you lose your action. Movement is a reflexive action, so it is possible to move after the interruption and before the instant action. 'Drawing a Weapon' You are not presumed to be already holding a weapon when combat begins unless you have previously and explicitly posed accordingly. With the Quick Draw merit, taking a weapon from a holster, scabbard, purse or bag is a reflexive action, and may therefore happen at any point. Remember that: *Drawing a weapon is an instant action *Weapons reduce your Initiative. This is applied immediately, so someone with Quick Draw who intends to draw their weapon as soon as combat begins should factor this into their Initiative. *You only have two hands. 'Grappling' ''Teamwork'' By the book, Teamwork rules are always used in a three-way grapple. Here, that is not necessarily the case. If all participants in a grapple have different aims they roll opposed Strength + Brawl as usual, with control of the grapple going to the person with the most successes. That person may then select from the Moves available as usual. Amongst other things, this allows a given combatant to intervene in an ongoing grapple and hold the two aggressors apart. ''Exceptional Success'' On an exceptional success, a combatant may choose two moves from the Grappling table. These must be different moves: he cannot choose the same move twice. 'Rote' You must declare that something is a rote action before you make the first roll. 'Spending Vitae/Willpower' Spending either Vitae or Willpower is a reflexive action, and can be done at any point prior to rolling. How much Vitae you may spend in a given turn is determined by your Blood Potency; you may only ever spend one Willpower a turn. Damage 'Armor' If the outfit you have posed as wearing is not armor, and does not allow for you to wear armor underneath it, you may not apply the benefits of armor if combat breaks out. Reinforced clothing and kevlar vests are subtle, but anything with more than 1 general armor makes it very obvious that you are wearing armor. This must be either posed so that others can react appropriately, or be part of the description on your +finger. Remember that: *Armor reduces your Speed *Armor reduces your Defense *Armor protects against the highest level of damage taken first 'Vigor' Spending vitae for Vigor is a reflexive action, which means it can be done at any time in your turn, including after you've confirmed the hit. 'Other Effects' Exceptional successes in combat are their own reward, and do not award Conditions or Tilts. Tilts come about as the result of specific fighting style merits or targeting specific body parts. You must declare that you are attempting to target a specific body part before rolling, as it imposes penalties to the roll. 'Damage and Torpor' A vampire is in torpor when her last health box is filled with lethal damage at the end of the turn. Spending vitae is a reflexive action, and may be done at any point in the turn. This may mean that: :*A character with low initiative has all their health boxes filled with damage, but still gets in one final blow before falling to torpor. :*A character would have all their health boxes filled with damage, but spends Vitae or Willpower to activate a damage-mitigating effect (such as Resilience or Iron Skin) before applying the damage. :*A character has all their health boxes filled with damage, but then spends Vitae to heal and does not fall to torpor. 'Killing Blow' Requiem for Kingsmouth has policy on character death, which can be boiled down to, "It's a last-case resort." When it's a matter of PvP, no amount of damage will ever accidentally kill another character: damage is capped at one level less than death, and the character rendered unconsciousness/torpid. For an attack to be fatal, you must declare that you are making a killing blow. Making another character unplayable causes automatic and unavoidable Humanity loss. Generally, we regard a character who is under full Vinculum, Conditioned, or under Oath is still a playable character, but someone who is in torpor, imprisoned, buried in concrete, or dead, is not. The rubric is, "Is the character still able to roleplay, even if the player is not happy about the content of that roleplay?" If the answer is no, you have made them unplayable. Note that 'Killing Blow', 'character death', and 'unplayable' are all terms that refer to a permanent situation. A character may be taken temporarily out of commission (for a scene, for a day, even for a week) without this rule applying. If the character is not lost (i.e., still in play), they have not been made unplayable. Named NPCs will not make killing blows. Plot-specific NPCs may do so, but this will be declared prior to the scene beginning so that anyone who does not wish to take the risk can re-think their involvement. Defensive Options 'Defense' When your defense is reduced or removed by something (such as performing an all-out attack) this modifier remains until the beginning of your next action. 'Surrendering' You may surrender at any point in combat, whether or not you have taken damage. Doing so awards you the Beaten Down tilt, a point of Willpower, and a Beat. You may still apply Defense as normal, Dodge, or run like hell, but you must spend a Willpower point for each and every aggressive action you take for the rest of the combat. In return, any attacker must spend a point of Willpower for each and every aggressive action toward you. This does not apply if they are in frenzy, or if their Humanity is less than 2, but surrendering to someone in a violent frenzy will almost always sate the Beast's desire for violence, ending the frenzy. Category:Combat Category:Mechanics Category:Rules